Firearms silencers are legal to own in the state of Washington (all Federal rules apply). But a friend told me that while they are legal to own, they’re not legal to use. That is, you can have one but you can’t take it down to the range to use it (or, I assume, use it on your property if your property is large enough). Is this true, or false?
I know nothing of Washington state law, but Federal regulations on silencers are so restrictive, that an oversight in local law would make no difference.
Only under Federal law NFA firearms and devices may be used as well as possessed. It’s up to the states to decide if they’re allowed. It seems odd to me that Washington would allow the possession of silencers (but not machine guns) but not allow them to be used.
This is absolutely untrue. The ownership of silencers is controlled under the National Firearms Act of 1934, but as far as the federal government is concerned regarding the possession of silencers and firearm suppressive devices within state borders by a non-felon resident of twenty-one years of age, all one needs to do is apply for a US National Firearms Act Tax Stamp and pay the US$200 tax. State and municipal laws are often far more restrictive, but this has nothing to do with federal law. See Chapter 53 of the Internal Revenue Code, 26 U.S.C. § 5801 through 26 U.S.C. § 5872 for the specific federal statutes in question. Note that this would also apply to improvised sound suppressive devices; stick a pillow or a 2 litre bottle in front of the muzzle of your Mark II and you’re subject to prosecution by the Revenuers.
As for the o.p.'s question, my read from the [Revised Code of Washington](Chapter 9.41 RCW
Firearms and dangerous weapons) is that silencers are not permitted in Washington State at all:
*9.41.250
Dangerous weapons — Penalty — Exemption for law enforcement officers.
(1) Every person who:
(a) Manufactures, sells, or disposes of or possesses any instrument or weapon of the kind usually known as slung shot, sand club, or metal knuckles, or spring blade knife, or any knife the blade of which is automatically released by a spring mechanism or other mechanical device, or any knife having a blade which opens, or falls, or is ejected into position by the force of gravity, or by an outward, downward, or centrifugal thrust or movement;
(b) Furtively carries with intent to conceal any dagger, dirk, pistol, or other dangerous weapon; or
**(c) Uses any contrivance or device for suppressing the noise of any firearm,**
is guilty of a gross misdemeanor punishable under chapter 9A.20 RCW.*
It would also seem to prohibit many types of one-hand opening knives. However, all violations of this are misdemeaners, not felonies. Not that you should disregard the law, but it is not a major violation of state statutes.
Stranger
It says uses not ‘possesses’.
So it does. Your friend would appear to be correct.
Interestingly, there is no exception in the statute for law enforcement officers for the use of a firearm suppressor. Hmmm…
Stranger
AFAIK, so far, assisted opening knives have not been found to open “automatically” because you have to push the blade open with your thumb to let the mechanism complete the opening process. To put it another way switchblades are fully automatic, assisted openers are semi automatic.
The other thing that’s usually cited is does the blade have a open/close bias. Switchblades are biased towards opening, usually the blade will not stay closed until it pushed closed to the point that the locking mechanism engages.
Every assisted knife I’ve seen has a bias towards being closed, push the blade past a certain point and it closes by itself.
This is the language in the 1958 federal switchblade act,
I think the “hand pressure applied to a … spring mechanism, or other device” was added to cover clever designs that have no button. I had a switchblade that opened by pushing the bolster to the side, no button. If you didn’t know the trick it looked like any other folder.
The definition of “gravity knife” always amuses me since most well made folders can be opened with a proper wrist flick.
This is a gravity knife! This IMHO isn’t.
CMC +fnord!
All the knife laws I’ve read exempts police, EMTs, active duty military etc. from the switch blade law. Hmmm… indeed!
Is that anything like the cannabis tax stamp? Where you’re allowed to have it, but only if you have a stamp. But to get the stamp, you must possess cannabis… but it’s illegal if you do. A catch 22.
No. It’s actually legal to own NFA items (silencers, machine guns, short barreled rifles, etc.) if you meet the Federal requirements and pay the tax… As long as you are permitted under the laws of your state. To use your analogy, it seems from what’s been posted here that a person (in this hypothetical scenario) could buy a marijuana stamp and own the plants. But he couldn’t smoke them.
Why would law enforcement officers ever want to use a silencer?
They know that silencers greatly reduce the accuracy of the weapon. And they have no need to shoot silently – is someone going to call the police? Fine, they want backup when shots are fired. They have legal authority to shoot* when stopping a crime or apprehending a criminal suspect, so no incentive to do so silently.
- Obviously, there are various restrictions identifying under which circumstances cops can draw their gun and fire it. It’s a fairly common discussion on this board, actually.
Nope. You can apply for an NFA stamp and pay your US$200 before taking posession of the device. It’s actually a pretty simple process.
Special tactics teams often use suppressed submachine guns and carbines, with the goal of reducing muzzle flash and noise so that they can operate without hearing protection and communicate more readily. While it it true that older silencers, particularly those with end wipes (a small gasket at the exit of the silencer that is slightly smaller than the bullet and holds in pressure) did reduce weapon accuracy, modern suppressors can actually increase accuracy by stabilizing gas pressure at the exit and reducing resonant feedback that can cause excessive barrel vibration. Here is SureFire’s page on suppressor use. If you look around you’ll find that most modern tactical response teams use suppressors on rifled close support weapons, and I’d be suprised if this isn’t true in Washington, either.
Stranger